There are a variety of remotely controlled mobile robots available and each typically include their own specific “Operator Control Unit” (OCU) used by an operator to wirelessly drive and steer the robot, operate its arm, maneuver its cameras, and the like. That is, the OCU for the well-known QinetiQ-NA, Inc. “Talon” robot cannot be used as an OCU to control the iRobot Corp. “PackBot” robot and vise-versa. The same is sometimes true with respect to different model robots of even the same company or vendor and also true with respect to unmanned aerial and watercraft vehicles, different remote sensors, weapons, and the like. For example, the OCU of the “Raven” drone cannot be used to control the “Talon” robot.
The result is an incentive for a so-called “common controller”. The U.S. Army program is called the “AN/PSW-2 Common Controller”.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,119,109 of iRobot Corp., incorporated herein by this reference, discloses a “twin grip design” input device connected to a rugged laptop computer for controlling teleoperative remote controllable vehicles. The software of the computer is stated to be proprietary but also includes “common OCU software”. How the signals output by the switches of the device are processed by the computer is not disclosed but different button function modes are possible.
Others are developing tactical control units with scalable war fighter-machine interfaces. Still others are attempting to adapt game type controllers for controlling unmanned aerial and ground vehicles.
Those skilled in the art have also studied controlling multiple robots or payloads. One example is a soldier controlling a flying drone and, at the same time, controlling a ground robot using one controller. The handheld controller could have one switch set for the ground robot and another switch set for the drone but then the handheld controller would be large and complex.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,394,168, incorporated herein by this reference, discloses a game controller with buttons for controlling movement of one object and an optical subsystem for controlling movement of a different object. U.S. Pat. No. 8,199,109 states that the controller has “mode changing software” which is not disclosed. The '109 patent also states the controller can be used to control two or more payloads.